Infosys Science Foundation announces winners of the Infosys Prize 2015

Bengaluru: The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) on Monday announced the winners of the Infosys Prize 2015 across six categories: Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences. This year;'s winners are an eclectic mix of people – an ex-army officer, a monk and a philosopher among others, whose work spans fields as diverse as analytical Indian Philosophy, the atomic structure of the killer malaria parasite and India’s foreign and security policies. The prize for each category consists of a purse of Rs. 65 Lakhs, a 22 karat gold medallion and a citation certificate.

The winners of the Infosys Prize 2015 were evaluated by a panel of jurors comprising of esteemed scientists and professors from around the world. The jury chairs of the six categories are: Prof. Pradeep K. Khosla (University of California San Diego) for Engineering and Computer Science; Prof. Amartya Sen (Harvard University) for Humanities; Dr. Inder Verma (Salk Institute of Biological Sciences) for Life Sciences; Prof. Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan (New York University) for Mathematical Sciences; Prof. Shrinivas Kulkarni (California Institute of Technology) for Physical Sciences; and Prof. Kaushik Basu (The World Bank) for Social Sciences.

The winners of the Infosys Prize 2015 are:

Engineering and Computer Science

Prof. Umesh Waghmare, Professor – Theoretical Sciences Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India is awardedfor his innovative use of first-principles theories and modeling in insightful investigations of microscopic mechanisms responsible for specific properties of certain materials such as topological insulators, ferroelectrics, multiferroics and graphene.

Humanities

Prof. Jonardon Ganeri, Global Network Visiting Professor of Philosophy, New York University andRecurrent Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, King’s College London, UK is awardedfor his outstanding scholarship and originality in interpreting and scrutinizing analytical Indian Philosophy and shedding light on shared ground as well as the dichotomy between Indian and Greek traditions of philosophical reasoning.

Life Sciences

Dr. Amit Sharma, Group Leader, Structural and Computational Biology Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, Indiais awarded for his pioneering contributions towards deciphering the molecular structure, at the atomic level, ofkey proteins involved in the biology of pathogenesis of the deadly malarial parasite.

Mathematical Sciences

Prof. Mahan Maharaj, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Belur Math, Howrah, India is awarded forhis contributions to geometric group theory, low-dimensional topology and complex geometry. In particular, Prof. established a central conjecture in the Thurston program to study hyperbolic 3-manifolds and introduced important new tools to study fundamental groups of complex manifolds

Physical Sciences

Prof. G Ravindra Kumar, Professor in the Department of Nuclear and Atomic Physics (DNAP), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India is awarded for his pioneering experimental contributions to the physics of high intensity laser matter interactions. In particular for providing, for the first time, unequivocal evidence of turbulent magnetic fields and the discovery of terahertz frequency acoustic waves, in laser produced hot dense plasmas. These results have significance to testing stellar and astrophysical scenarios.

Social Sciences

Dr. Srinath Raghavan, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India is awarded for outstanding research that synthesizes military history, international politics, and strategic analysis into powerful and imaginative perspectives on India in global context.

Mr. S. D. Shibulal, President, Board of Trustees, Infosys Science Foundation said, “We set up the Infosys Science Foundation and instituted the Infosys Prize to restore the romance of research. As we move into our seventh year, the Infosys Science Foundation continues to foster a culture of scientific thinking through various initiatives. We started with the Infosys Prize in 2009 and have since added high-touch, high-impact initiatives such as public lectures, training workshops for government school teachers and science oriented events for school students. Through our focused approach we aim to kindle the flame of scientific curiosity in young minds.”

He further added, “The winners of Infosys Prize 2015 were selected from several nominations received from across universities and we are grateful to our distinguished jury members to have taken the time to evaluate and award the most deserving. I hope their work will stimulate the minds of future talent, and open up a new world of possibilities for all of us.”

The Awards Ceremony for the Infosys Prize 2015 will be held on February 13, 2016, in New Delhi, where the Honorable President, Shri. Pranab Mukherjee, will felicitate the winners.